Body armor and armor for other purposes which are intended to provide a barrier to high velocity rounds generally comprise, in a vest or other structure, a rigid plate, either of ceramic, steel or high tensile strength fibers such as aramid, polyethylene or poly-p-phenylene benzo-bis-oxazole fiber laminated into a rigid plate using a thermoset or other boding resin.
Body armor and armor for other purposes which are intended to provide a flexible barrier to high velocity rounds generally comprise, in a vest or other structure, a ballistic fabric which can contain ceramic disks or particles, hereinafter referred to as beads, which create a barrier to the passage of a round.
A typical ceramic bullet proof fabric is found in the CHEDIAK et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,824,940 which comprises a plurality of layers of fabric and ceramic structures which are fastened to fabric.
Other armors utilizing similar principles are disclosed in:
CLAUSEN et alU.S. Pat. No. 4,186,648SANDSTROMU.S. Pat. No. 4,969,386DUNBARU.S. Pat. No. 5,200,256GROVESU.S. Pat. No. 5,364,679TARRYU.S. Pat. No. 5,443,917NEAL et alU.S. Pat. No. 6,035,438NEALU.S. Pat. No. 6,510,777GROVESU.S. Pat. No. 5,110,661GROVESU.S. Pat. No. 5,087,516ROZNER et alU.S. Statutory Invention Reg. No. H1O61
All of these systems have various drawbacks, some of which will be discussed in greater detail hereinafter. One of the principal drawbacks, however, of armors which utilize ceramic or glass beads or beads of similar material is that the ceramic tends to break up upon impact and thus, in the process of slowing down a high velocity round, itself loses integrity and the ability to continue to participate in the velocity attenuation process.
Other principal drawbacks of ceramic armor, or any rigid plate armor are inflexibility (stiffness) and weight.
The prior art armors to a significant extent attempt to introduce layers which are designed to slow down and eventually trap the round by providing surfaces in front of the round as it passes through the armor.